I put this together about a month ago for a friend who wanted some useful information in his debates with people who (through their lack of information) think Bush is honest and doing a good job for national security.A few factsOf the 19 terrorists who hijacked airliners on 9/11/01 and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, none of them were from Iraq. 15 of them were from Saudi Arabia. No connection has ever been found between the attacks and Iraq. No weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq.
Cooked IntelligenceHow could the Bush administration have been so wrong about Iraq’s connections to the al Qaeda terrorist organization, its nuclear weapons program, and the chemical and biological weapons they insisted with such certainty that Iraq possessed? Was the intelligence bad, or was it intentionally cherry-picked and manipulated? Did President Bush lie?
Here’s an article originally published 6/30/03 in The New Republic magazine. It provides an excellent overview of the intelligence controversies in the Bush administration’s efforts to persuade Congress and the American people of the necessity to invade Iraq:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/070703A.shtmlThis article was published 10/20/03, and it delves deeper into how the gathering and analysis of intelligence was corrupted by the Bush administration:
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?031027fa_factMany former intelligence professionals are appalled at what is happening, and have formed a group called Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. This is one of the letters they have written to President Bush:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0714-01.htmCommentariesHere’s a few opinion pieces about the disparity between the truth and what the Bush administration has said.
Josh Marshall is an astute observer of Washington politics, and in this article he explains why the Bush administration disregards facts and expert opinion in its efforts to implement its domestic and foreign agenda:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0309.marshall.htmlPaul Sperry is not a liberal columnist. He voted for Bush, but has concluded that the president lied repeatedly about Iraq:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34930John Dean was in the Republican administration of Richard Nixon. He is the one who told Nixon there is a cancer growing on the presidency, and became famous during the Watergate Hearings:
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030606.htmlWho and WhyWhy would the Bush administration go to such great lengths to achieve their goal of regime change in Iraq, and who are these people anyway?
What is a neoconservative? This web site from The Christian Science Monitor answers some basic questions:
http://www.csmonitor.com/specials/neocon/neocon101.htmlThis editorial published 2/23/03 provides an excellent introduction to the highly influential neoconservative Project for the New American Century (PNAC):
http://www.makethemaccountable.com/floyd/030223_AmericanDominance.htmThis article published 9/29/02 goes into greater depth by providing numerous links that expound on the neoconservative agenda.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2319.htm#TopWas this a war for oil? Yes, but more importantly it was a major battle in the war over currency – the dollar vs. the euro (Europe’s common currency). This incredibly important issue that has had incredibly little exposure is explained in this article:
http://www.newtopiamagazine.net/issues/v2issue3/features/crudetruth.shtmlMany neocons have been accused of having dual loyalties – to the United States and to Israel. This lengthy article by two former CIA analysts details the connections between neocons in the Bush administration and Jewish lobby:
http://www.counterpunch.org/christison1213.htmlPatrick Buchanan is a far-right conservative. In this article he expounds upon the issue of dual loyalties, and illustrates his points with what the neoconservatives themselves have been saying:
http://www.amconmag.com/03_24_03/cover.html#anchorConservatives and right-wing organizations also oppose the war in Iraq
Some compelling arguments from the right.
This one from Pat Buchanan argues against military intervention unless it is clearly in our national interests:
http://www.amconmag.com/03_24_03/cover.html#anchorThis article gives a compelling argument that efforts to expand our power will ultimately lead to our downfall:
http://amconmag.com/10_06_03/cover.htmlThe CATO institute is a Libertarian think-tank. This article was published two weeks before the invasion of Iraq was launched, and it refutes the notion that Saddam Hussein would give WMD to al Qaeda:
http://www.cato.org/dailys/03-05-03.htmlSteve Chapman is a columnist at the Chicago Tribune who identifies himself as a Libertarian. This commentary rips apart the Bush rationale for war:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kucinich-for-President/message/265This link to the Libertarian web site provides more information about the Libertarian philosophy, and an editorial that condemns the US Senate for giving up their Constitutional authority to declare war:
http://www.fff.org/comment/com0311d.aspFrom the same Libertarian web site, a scathing indictment of Bush policy and propaganda:
http://www.fff.org/comment/com0310e.aspThis link is to The New American, an extremely right-wing publication which has argued that the McCarthyism of the 1950’s was a noble effort to combat communism. They were against the war on Constitutional grounds, and they defended the patriotism of those who opposed it:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/2003/03-24-2003/vo19no06_patriotism_print.htmVoices from the leftTim Robbins starred in the baseball movie Bull Durham, but his opposition to the war got him banned from appearing at an event at the Baseball Hall of Fame:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0416-01.htmBill Moyers, a highly respected journalist and advocate of progressive politics, explains what’s wrong with media in America and what needs to be done to improve it:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1112-10.htmRobert Byrd is an octogenarian Democratic Senator from West Virginia. He has given several eloquent speeches on the Senate floor opposing this war.
February 12. 2003:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0212-07.htmThis speech was on the eve of war:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0303/S00305.htmAnd this on 5/21/03:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0521-10.htmBrady Kiesling is a career U.S. diplomat who gave up his career because he could not in good conscience support the policies of the Bush administration:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1112-10.htmSome historyThis article was published 2/27/03, and examines U.S.-Iraq history from 1980, including how Saddam was given the “green light” in his invasions of Iran and Kuwait:
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2003/022703a.htmlIn 1953, the CIA led a coup to overthrow a democratically elected government in Iran. Here is an interview with the author of a book on that subject:
http://www.rense.com/general40/roots.htmMore commentaryRobert Scheer dismisses the idea that Bush is a champion of democracy:
http://www.latimes.com/la-oe-scheer11nov11,0,6153039.columnJoseph Wilson, the former diplomat who broke the Niger uranium story, comments on the occupation and the dishonesty of the Bush administration:
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030919-122231-9291rThis is a piece I wrote myself, under the pseudonym I use at the Democratic Underground:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/09/23_solution.htmlBush failed to prevent the 9/11 attacks, then lied about the warnings:
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline/main/essayairdefense.htmlAl Qaeda is an international terrorist organization. If any country can be linked to them, it’s not Iraq – it’s our “friend” Saudi Arabia:
http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/8546Links to anti-war web sitesMost of the links to the above articles were found in these web sites.
Antiwar.com
http://www.antiwar.com/AlterNet
http://www.alternet.org/index.htmlBuzzFlash
http://buzzflash.com/Common Dreams
http://www.commondreams.org/Consortiumnews.com
http://consortiumnews.com/index.htmlCounterPunch
http://www.counterpunch.org/Democratic Underground Forums
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=103TomPaine.com
http://www.tompaine.com/truthout
http://truthout.com/TV News Lies
http://tvnewslies.org/html/explanation.html
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